The proposal for a new basketball arena has launched many thousand emails to councilmembers as of early July and I know there will be many more to come. While the emails break down into the “for” and “against” camp, they also split into the “click-and-send campaign” variety of few words and the “took some time to send an original message” variety. Just to give you a flavor of what I’m seeing, here are excerpts from two messages:
“If this arena is not passed then Bellevue will get it, not you! Today’s presentations by you guys were absolutely incomplete, false, and inaccurate. Honestly I am now embarrassed to see that these people are in charge of our city. Seattle is going down the drain and will soon be another Lynwood [sic], Tacoma, Wenatchee, or Ellensburg if you guys don’t stop disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing. Chris Hansen and us all have begun to lose our patience with you all. Please pass this.”
And…
“I don’t understand how multi-millionaire Chris Hansen and billionaire Steve Ballmer need to ask the city and it’s [sic] tax payers for money. It is ridiculous. I hear the mayor complaining that he can’t make the changes the DOJ recommended to our police department because the city can afford it, but then he and others want to give these people a loan.”
A point to all – questions and requests for further analysis don’t necessarily signal a councilmember opposes a proposal. It does mean he or she is engaged and cares about a good outcome.